UCFC COMES UP SHORT IN FLORIDA

Lakeland, FL – For their first game of 2022, Utica City FC traveled to play the Florida Tropics. Florida jumped out to an early lead and cruised to a 10-3 win.

Florida’s Bruno Henrique got the scoring started when he capitalized on a turnover in Utica City’s defensive third and made it 1-0.

Tic-tac-toe passing from Patrick Thompson to Moises Gonzalez to Joey Tavernese led to a back post tap in goal and UCFC tied the game at 1.

Florida would go on a 5-1 run from there. The Tropics struck again when Ricardo Carvalho received the ball off the wall and buried it to make it 2-1. They doubled their lead when Taylor Walter Bond dashed to the middle of the field and found the back of the net. Florida led 3-1 at the end of the first.

Florida would score three unanswered to start the third. First, Victor Parrerias scored on a penalty to make it 4-1. Carvalho would add his second of the game for Florida’s fifth. Drew Ruggles tallied another to make it 5-1.

Nate Bourdeau stopped the Florida onslaught with a rocket shot to the top right corner of the cage. Florida led 6-2 at the half.

The second half started with tallies from each side. Ben Ramin got one for Utica City, but Carvalho answered with his third of the day to make it 7-3 Florida.

In the fourth, the Tropics added three. Carvalho, Walter Bond and Drew Ruggles poured it on to seal a 10-3 win for Florida. Utica City fell to 2-3 on the season with the loss. UCFC was outshot 25-17.

Utica City will play Florida again next Sunday, before returning home on January 16^th to face the Baltimore Blast. Tickets are available at uticacityfc.com/tickets.